American Sign Language interpreters were included on the red carpet at the 95th annual Oscars Academy Awards for the first time. A team of ASL interpreters helped actors, talents, and reporters to be at ease in engaging with Deaf viewers at home. Members of the media also received guidelines on how to make their pre-show coverage more accessible. The Oscars also arranged free ASL Livestream through the Academy’s YouTube Channel where Deaf viewers could view the entire telecast with full access through the ceremony’s “second-screen approach”.

Keivonn Woodard hopes to become the first Deaf black player in the National Hockey League. He currently plays for the Bowie Hockey Club under-10 team in Maryland and in February attended Hockey practice facilities of the Washington Capitals team in Virginia where he met Alexander Ovechkin, a well known NHL player and taught Ovechkin how to sign his name in ASL. Keivonn said Ovechkin was a dream.

Tecnológico de Toluca became the first engineering school for the Deaf in Mexico when the Technological Institute of Toluca (IT Toluca) offered classes to raise awareness and create job opportunities for Deaf people in Computer Systems. Hugo Ernesto Cuellar Carreón is director of IT Toluca. All classes will be accessible by LSM – Mexican Sign Language. The director said it was an outcome of a community conversation three years ago on the Tecnológico Nacional de México, Iztapalapa II campus.

Jaber Al-Kandari, vice-president of the Deaf International Football Association (DIFA) said he was trying to work with DIFA to host the first World Cup for the Deaf in Kuwait this year or next year with 24 countries participating and that Kuwait has infrastructure including fields and facilities that qualifies them to host this major event. He hopes to get support from the government through the Public Authority for Sport and Kuwait Olympic Committee, as well as the private sector.